Clementine's Confusion
by The Princess of the Mist
Summary: After a talk with Kenny,Clementine begins to have feelings for him. She tries to ignore them but it's obvious THAT aint gonna work! Lee tries to help but his advice is useless with his situation with Lily and Kenny's bickering. So whats a girl to do when she's experiencing love for the first time and no one seems to understand... NOT a pairing just hilarious CRUSHING and CONFUSION!
1. Blushing and Panicing

**I know, I know. ANOTHER story. Frankly, I've got writers block with M&M. I might upload soon but it may be time to call it quits with ole Ariana and Miguel… **

Lee walked around the motel at around six in the morning. He sighed, wondering how they would make it with the little amount of supplies they had. And it wasn't exactly easy considering that lily and Kenny were bickering over every petty situation they got into. Every time he turned around, they were having another fricking screaming contest. And if that wasn't bad enough, he had Larry to worry about. He never said it out loud, but he was actually praying for the old geezer would get bit or eaten alive, or both. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he hadn't even noticed Clementine sitting on the second row railing until her dangling feet were two inches away from his face. He blinked back in surprise and wondered what she was doing up so early. Lee walked up the stairs and saw her staring dead ahead. He followed her gaze and saw she was staring at the sun, looking deep in thought . He then waved his hand in front of her face and when he got no reaction, he got worried.

"Clementine" he tried.

No answer. Lee sat his hand on her shoulder, causing her to jump a bit. She turned around and saw Lee staring at her with concern. Waving, she smiled and laughed a bit.

"Oh, hey Lee" she said. "I didn't see you there, when you get up?"

"Like five hours ago. Why are you up so early?"

She just shrugged. "Thinking, I guess."

"About what?" It was just after the nightmare with the cannibals and he worried if she had any troubles yet.

Clem was silent or a moment. She seemed to be daydreaming about something.

"Clem?"

No response.

"Clementine? Clementine, are you okay?"

She sighed and turned to him, a strange look in her eyes.

"Uh, Clem?"

"Lee…how do you know when you're in love?"

His jaw dropped; he had NOT been expecting that.

"What was that now?'

"I said how do you know when you're in love?"

"Oh, um…" Lee was at a lost for words.

"Lee?"

"Clem, have you been breathing in the chalk dust again" he asks.

"No" she says, dreamily. She looks back out into the sun. "So how do you know?"

"Uh, I guess when you feel all jittery whenever you're around them and never want to leave their side."

"Oh. Thanks." She begins to twist her hair round and round and sighs, as if she's having the best dream of her life.

"Why?"  
She's too busy staring ahead to notice he had asked her a question. She lets out another sigh and closes her eyes.

"Clem?"

"Hm?"

"Why?"  
"Comes after W."

"What?"

She begins to hum and smiles, laughing to herself about something.

"Sweet pea?"

"Yes?"

"Is there something you wanna tell me?"

"…"

"Clementine I know you hear me talking to you."  
She continues to stare off into space.

"Clem?"

No response.

"Clem? Clem, honey, please answer me" Lee says, his voice tinted with worry.

Whatever state of mind she was in, Clem must have come out of it when she heard the worry in his voice. She blinks a couple of times before she says "Lee?" as if just waking up and noticing him there. "What's wrong?"

"You weren't answering me" Lee explains, putting a hand to her head. "And you were talking about love and I thought something was wrong."

Clem's face turns to one of regret and she says "Oh, Lee I'm sorry."

"That's okay. You just had me worried. Especially when you were talking about love."

Her face goes back to one filled with happiness and she sighs again. "Yeah…"

Lee shakes her a bit, afraid she'll go back to the way she was a minute ago. "Clem? What's going on?"

She lets out one last sighs and turns to Lee, her eyes bright but troubled for some reason. "I think I like somebody" she says. "More than a friend and more than family."

"Oh." Lee shifts his weight to the other leg and rubs his temples. "Uh, is that what this is about?"

"Hm mm" she says, her eyes cloudy. She holds her arms together and sways side to side, humming again.

"Uh, sweetie" Lee says. "Just when did you start liking this someone?"

"Last night."

"Oh, um, well who is he?"

Clem just laughs to herself.

"Clem? Who is he?"

"…"

"Sweetie, you know you can trust me, right?"

"Yes."

"So you know you can tell me right?"

"But it's bad that I like him and you'll think I'm a bad person."

"Clementine, I'd never think that. So can you tell me?"

She looks up, tears in her eyes. "Promise you won't be mad?"

"I promise."

Clem takes a deep breath and closes her eyes before saying "Kenny."

"…"

Hanging her head in shame, Clem says "I'm sorry."

"No, no. Don't be. It's just… a surprise is all."

"So… I'm not a bad person?"

"No. Now can you tell me why?"

"Comes after W."

"Huh?"

"You said Y?"

"No I said why? Like why you like…Kenny."

"Well, last night, I couldn't sleep. So I came out here and eventually Kenny came out. He asked me what I was doing out here and I told him I was scared about the people trying to eat us. Then he took my hands and told me I didn't have nothing to worry about cause you and him would protect me. Then I…I felt a funny feeling in my chest. That was when he said he was going to check on Duck and left. I couldn't sleep after that. So I stayed up the rest of the night thinking about him. But I knew it was bad cause he loves Kat( **sorry I cant spell her name so imma call her Kat**). And when you came out here, I guess I was still thinking about him so I wasn't really paying attention.

"Clem… you don't love Kenny."

"I don't" she asked, looking hopeful.

"No. You just formed a bigger attraction to him after last night."

"But… I keep thinking about him."

"What are you thinking about?"

Clem blushes and Lee can't help but laugh at her uncomfortableness. "I, uh, um, wait what are you laughing at?"

Lee is full out laughing now. "Nothing, it's just…"

"What?"

"Don't get upset."

"I won't."

"Well… Sweetie, you kinda of look like a tomato with a rash."

Clem's face sets on fire and she asks "how do I make it stop?"

"I think everyone asks that at some part in their life. So what was this dream about?"

Clem feels her body starting to heat up and her blush deepens even further before she stutters "Lee, uh, I, um, it's embarrassing."

"Sweetie, remember you can tell me anything. I won't judge you."

"I, uh-"

"Morning, Lee" a voice says, making Clem freeze in her tracks. "Morning, Clem."

"Morning, Kenny" Lee says, giving Clem a look.

"M-morning, Kenny" Clementine says, looking down at her feet, her blush making her look as if she's choking.

"Hey, kid" Kenny said, smiling at Clem. "You feeling better?"

"I, uh, um" she stutters.

"What you tongue tied?"

"No." Clem sighs and stares heavenly at Kenny.

He stares back at her, his eyebrow arched. "Uh, Lee? Has she been breathing in the chalk dust again?"

Lee laughs then says "no, not exactly. Clem you wanna tell Kenny something?"

Clem tries to speak but finds no words. Then she begins to sweat and breathes heavily. Kenny steps towards her, asking "what's wrong?" She shakes her head side to side and runs the other way.

"What was all of that about?"

"She'll tell you when she's ready I guess" Lee says, worried for how this will turn out for the little girl.


	2. And So the Drama Begins!

Clem rushed into the kitchen and dove underneath the table, trying to get her breath back. Alright, alright, she told herself after a few minutes. She brushed her hair out of her face and saw she was sweating uncontrollably. Ew, she thought as she crawled out. Checking to see if Kenny were in the room, Clem peered above her. The close we clear. She stood, slowly at first then at a regular pace. When she opened the door, she wasn't looking where she was going and ended up tripping over her shoe laces. She landed with a UMPH! and rubbed her bruised chin.

"Clementine, are you okay?"

Clem looked to her right and saw Carly towering over her with a worried look on her face. She sighed in relief, happy it wasn't Kenny.

"Yeah" she replies, getting to her feet. "I need to go."

Carly cocked an eyebrow to the side. "Go? Go where?"

"I, um, need to-to…"

"Alright, alright. You don't gotta tell me. And, uh, a little word of advice…" Carly reached in her designer purse in her hand and pulled out what like a makeup pouch and placed it in the little girl's hands. "A little bit of powder and makeup'll cover up that blush."

"Um, thanks" Clem says, feeling heat rush to her cheeks.

"So who's the lucky guy?"

"Who says it's a guy?"

"You aren't gay, are you?"

"What's gay?"

"Nevermind. Lee would kill me if I told you. I assume that you don't like, like girls."

"No…"

"You like boys."  
"Yes…"

"So who is he?"

"There is no he."

"Is it Duck?"  
"No…gross."

"After a moment, Carly looks up, looking uncomfortable as she asks "Is it Lee?"

Clem's stuttering so bad, she's barely understandable. "WHAT?! No, no, no, no!"  
"Alright, alright… So then who is it?"

"It's no one."

"So why are you blushing?"

"I am not!"

"Clem, you look like a strawberry with no seeds."

"I, uh, saw a um, whatchamacallit and I uh, um, got nervous and…."  
"Clem, honey, it's alright if you like someone" Carly says, laughing.

Clem looks up. "It is."

"Sure. I like Lee and I have no problem with it. Just go for it."

"You like Lee? Gross. But I can't just go for it cause he's already taken."

"Well, all I know is, it's better to know than to not know" Carly says sighing. "And if I were you, I would only tell a girl about this crush."

"Why?"

"Cause guys suck at these type of things."  
"Lee was acting kinda weird when I told him. Okay." Clem held her pinky out and carly crossed hers with it. "This will be just between us . I won't tell Lee anything else. I feel kind of bad about it though."

"Well, you can tell him if you want to. But its better if you wait for him to ask."

"Why?"

A sly grin comes on Carly's face. "Cause then you get to watch them struggle asking you about it. And it's pretty funny when they start begging."

Clem giggles then nods. "Okay. And… how do I stop thinking about him?"

"You can't." Clementine's chin lowers but gets higher at what she says next. "And don't let anyone tell you to stop thinking about him. You think about him as much as your big ole' heart desires."

"Alright."

"So… who is he."

"…Kenny but you gotta promise, cross your heart and hope to never have sugar again, that you won't tell anyone" she says in a rush.

Carly nods then smiles. "Considering Kenny's foul attitude, I doubt you'll like him for much longer."

"But, he's soooooooooo nice and cute and funny and just a little bit rude" Clem says, her eyes fogging over.

"Clem, just remember to think before you say things in front of him cause sometimes your brain stops working when you're around a crush and your mouth will say something that you will ultimately regret later."

She gulps then nods her head. "So, what do I do if Lee asks me about Kenny?"

"Well" Carly turns the other way. "That depends on just how long you want this to last before he realizes you're just doing all of this on purpose. And besides, he's already got enough on his plate with Lily and Kenny. He probably won't even ask you. Later."

"Bye."

Clem smiles and walks into her bedroom. She crawls under the bed, thinking that'd be a good way to keep Lee's questioning at bay for now, and curls up. Her mind is filled with thoughts of Kenny. The way he laughs, the way his eyes sparkle whenever he and Kat are in the same room, the way he gets along with Duck so well, the way he and Lee are best friends, the way he smiles, the way he likes to give her noogies, the way he's so protective, the way he not afraid of almost anything, the way that he came to check up on her last night… Clem yawns and smiles at that as sleeps takes her under its endless cover.

_Clem opens her eyes and sees the room is filling with water at a rapid pace. She screams and realizes the water is already past the bed as the water fills her lungs. She swims out from under the bed and resurfaces, gasping and spitting out water. Looking around, Clem can see that the water is taller than half the room now. She panics, wondering what in the world is going on. But she doesn't have time to think of an answer for her own question. She has to get out of here. Clem pushes her arms through the water, realizing just how strong the current is. Every push is like lifting two dozen 50 pound dumb bells. When she reaches the door, she is out of breath and barely has enough strength to take the doorknob in her feeble little hands and twist it to the left( __**to the left, everything you own in the box to the left. Sorry I just HAD to put that in there.**__)._

_With all of the water in the room, Clem was praying that maybe her room had suffered the worst of it and maybe there wouldn't be a wet spot in the rest of the motel. But she couldn't have been more wrong. The current in Clem's bedroom mixed with the even bigger current coming from outside of the door, was too much for her already sore and small bones and she ended up being pulled right out of the room. It was like a water park ride, actually. A horrible water park ride. Tree twigs and mud kept splashing in and out of her mouth. And her arm kept scraping against the floor so she was bleeding so much that the water had taken a dark red tint to it. Clementine cried out in horror and tried desperately to find something to stop her from being pulled away but it was no use. So all she could do was watch as her blood and he muddy water mixed and wait for the horrible water ride to be over with already. _

_People say that when you're close to death, your life flashes before your eyes. That happened for Clementine. She was right at the top of the stairs and about to head down. She tried turning around but this only resulted in her being lugged in the gut by a large tree branch. She clutched and stomach and waited for death. In less than two seconds, she plummeted down the stairs. When she reached the bottom, her clothes were ragged and she was bleeding all over. She sighed, thinking the worst was over. But that was when she noticed her head must have gone back under water because she couldn't breathe. Clem tried swimming upwards, figuring she was only a few strokes away from the surface. But after a few tries, she was still under water. She looked up and saw she was very, very, VERY far away from the surface. And she was running out of air. Clem pushed herself off the ground, cutting her leg on a discarded broken beer bottle, and swam and swam and swam. She could feel her oxygen running short and suddenly things were looking very blurry. Almost there, almost there, almost… there. Her hand breaks free and she almost gasps but reminds herself of her situation and burst through the water, throwing up water and blood and mud. She looks around, her vision blurry, her heart thumping in her head and giving her a headache. Her muscles are sore and screaming in pain as she tries to stand but suddenly something yanks her back under. But before she goes down for good, Clem catches one last look at the world in front of her. The motel is on fire, the windows are bashed in, and there is blood everywhere. But one thing stands out above all of these: Kenny is there, his eyes cold and hard watching as Clementine is being pulled under..._

Clem sat up with a start, banging her head on the bottom of the bed.

"Ow" she moans. But then she realizes she isn't wet. She touches her clothes and sees the most is that she'd been sweating from the intense dream. She lets out a grateful sigh and crawls out from under the uncomfortable hiding space. As she stands, Clem realizes that they extremely stiff. How long was I out for, she wonders. She glances down at her watch and nearly chokes in surprise. It's six o clock! She'd been out for nearly twelve hours! Clem forces herself to the window and sees that the sun is setting. Oh. My. Gosh, she thinks. Then she runs out the door and crashes into a very worried looking Lee. They both fall flat on their behinds. Lee stares at Clem. Then he brings her in for a hug.

"Oh, Clem" he says. "I thought we lost you."

"Lee, I was only sleep for like half the day. I was just getting my mind straight.

Lee just stares at the girl as if she'd been bitten by a walker. "Clem, you've been gone since yesterday!"

"What?"

"Carly said you were avoiding 'all of us males' or whatever that means and that you were probably hiding somewhere. Is that true?"

Clem is about to say no when she remembers Carly telling her Lee would probably be too busy to even ask her. She frowns at this and thinks, well fine then! I wouldn't tell him even if he wanted to know! So she folds her arms and turns the other way, completely ignoring him.

"Clem" he asks. "What's wrong? What's Carly talking about?"

Clem just walks away from him and walks down the stairs. Instantly, the whole group surrounds the whole group, minus Larry but that guy's a douche bag so he doesn't count.

"Clem are you okay" Duck asks.

She turns away from him.

"What's her problem" Kenny asks, making Clem turn back to them.

"What's wrong" he asks. Clem begins to answer but then remembers what she and Carly agreed on, smiles and turns around. Besides, she didn't trust her mouth to not say anything at the moment.

"She's been like this since I found her" Lee says, sighing. "Clem, what's wrong?"

"HMPH!"  
"Clem" Lily asked.

"Yes" she answers, a little too brightly.

"Uh, why aren't you talking?"  
"I am talking."

"But you weren't talking to Lee or Kenny, not that I can blame you on Kenny, or Duck."

"I'm talking to you and Carly" the little girl says plainly. "But that's it."

"Okay, now I'm just lost" Lee says.

"Lee" Carly says. "It's a girl thing." Then she loops her arms with Clem and Lily, whom she'll explain it to later, and walks away, leaving the boys wondering what on God's green earth just happened.

**Yay for girl power! I doubt this will end well for our fellow boys! Tune in next time! I know my writing sucks so I apologize in advance **


	3. PRIVACY MUCH!

**Note: ClementineEverettTWDG, Fandoms for the Win, Skylar91 Find Me In the Rice, THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT!**

"So" Lily said, after Carly had broken everything down to her. "You like Kenny?"

"Yes…" Clem said, holding her head won a bit.

"Why? That guy's a real pain in the- OW!" She rubbed her shin, that was now a weird purplish color, thanks to Carly.

"So, why are you not talking to any of the guys" she asked, after a minute of stares passed between the two.

Clem crossed her arms and said "cause guys understand NOTHING about crushes! I wont utter a word to none of them!"

"For how long?"

"Uh…"  
"Just until you feel comfortable around them."

"And how does Lee feel about that?"

"Not so great. But everybody has their secrets and this is one between us girls, got it" Carly said.

"Got it." Then the three pinky promised and Clem felt a giddy inside. It was like a top secret mission! She wondered just how far they would go. A week, maybe two? Well any hope of THAT hilarious silent treatment torture suddenly disappeared when suddenly the door flew open. Lee crashed to the ground, along with Kevin and Duck falling next to him. At first, Clem felt embarrassed. They were spying on them! But then this embarrassment was quickly replaced by embarrassment when she realized just how little privacy she had! She was on her feet in a minute and rushed over to them. Kenny and Duck managed to escape but Lee wasn't so lucky. No. he was at the foot of a merciless, betrayed, hurt, SUPER crushing eight year old! And there was nothing he could do to stop it.

"Lee" she cried out, her face as red as a vampire's sunburn. "Were you spying on us!?"

"What, uh, I would never" he says, though it's clear he struggling to hold back his laughter.

"Quit, lying, Lee" a voice says through the door. "We all know you've spied on all the ladies in THIS house! Except for Lilly, of course. That son of a b**** aint no lady."

"Excuse me" Lily said, doing one of those weird Tyra Banks neck roll thingies. She pushes past Lee and proceeds to start yet another argument with him.

"So you've been spying on us" Clem says.

"Well I wouldn't call it spying" he says defensively. "More like… extreme staring anonymously to gain information at one's own success."

"That's the exact definition of spying! Lee, I thought I could trust you!"  
"Clem, we didn't hear anything. What's so important?"

"What's important is that you cant let me have any privacy!"  
"She sounds like a paranoid fourteen year old" Kenny said again from outside, taking a break from his screaming contest with Lily.

"I DO NOT! I can't ever do ANYTHING here without the whole group knowing!"

"Kid, we're at war for crying out loud. What did ya expect was gonna happen? We have to know anything and everything about every single last person in this group. You might as well toss the word privacy out of the window and burn it from your vocabulary."

"KENNY!"

"What? Lee, we all know we all gave up our own privacy when we formed this group. The only thing we keep to ourselves is our mind and maybe our bodies. Maybe…"  
"Clem, look I'm sorry about-" Lee turns around and sees the only other person in the room with him is Carly, looking very disturbed. She walks past him, shaking her head slightly in disgust. "Clem" he tries. "Clem!" He looks under the bed and sees she's not there. But then a small yelp is heard. He turns to his left and sees her crawling out the window, tears already in her eyes and streaming down her cheeks. When she realizes he's seen her, she turns the other way and jumps. Lee's eyes widen, expecting a loud CRUNCH to be heard when she hits the ground. But surprisingly, there's not a sound to be heard. But after listening intently, he comes to a horrible realization that he can hear small tiny and fragile footsteps smashing roughly against the concrete in a fast motion. His eyes widened as he realized what was going on.

"Kenny" he yelled, unable to force his own body to move. "Clem's making a run for it!"

"Kinda busy" he says, in a slurred voice, as Lilly had just smashed his head with a beer bottle and he was kind of blacking out at the moment.

"Lilly" he tried. "Wanna help?"

"There's a reason Kenny's busy" she says, her eyes on fire and sending Lee silent death threats. He got the message and went on to the next and last person before he really and truly got desperate.

"Carly" he screamed. "Go get Clem!"

"Lee, maybe you should let her be. Privacy is the one thing a girl needs and yall short of took it away from her. Let her get her mind straight."  
"But what if-"

"Let her be."

"But how do we-"

"Let her be."  
"And what about-"

"GODDAMIT, LEE, I SAID LET HER BE!" **(Hey, I made a rythmie!)**

"Aw, skip it" he says, forcing his legs to move from their still position and breaks into a sprint. He jumps the last three crooked stairs and is soon in the middle of the lot. He sees Larry sitting on top of the life guard tower thingy, acting like a boss and rocking them shades, and groans. There's no way he'll catch up to Clem now and the only one who seemed to have been around were Lilly and Kenny, but they were kind of in the process of knocking each other out, senselessly, and Larry so he had no choice but to put their pass behind him and walk up to the old bastard hoping he wouldn't be as rude as normally.

"Hey, Larry" he says.

"Good evening, Lee" he replies. Alright, off to a good start. "How ya been?"

"Uh, alright I guess. And you?"

"Not too bad, other than being stalked by a ruthless killer , I'm fine." There it is!

"Listen, Larry. Clementine ran off somewhere. Have you seen her?"

Larry put one leg on top of the other and held his fingers up to his chin thinking. "Now let me see" he said, biting his lower lip. "Clementine. Little girl, long black hair, mouse nose?"

"DO you KNOW another Clementine?!"  
"You don't know what I know."  
"I know what you don't know" Lee mumbled.

"Hm, hm, hm, hm, hm, hm. Clem. Clementine. Lil' clem. Clemy. Little butterscotch. Oh, the one you're obsessed with protecting?"

"Yes! Wait, I'm not obsessed with protecting her!"  
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Why? What do you want?"

Lee gave himself a face palm and muttered a few unkind and ungentlemen-like words to himself before saying, VERY impaitiently, "cause I'm looking for her! We've gone through this!"

"Hm. You did not make that very clear…"

"So…"

"So…"

"Have you…"

"Have I what…."

"HAVE YOU SEEN THE LITTLE GIRL, GODDAMMIT! SOMETIMES I WONDER IF YOU DO THIS ON PURPOSE!" And with that he stormed off.

"Is he gone" a little voice asked.

"Yeah he's gone" Larry said, chuckling.

"Thanks." Clementine appeared from inside the bushes, smiling with her book bag draped over her shoulders.

"You be careful out there now, you here?"

"Now you sound like Lee, but okay." Then she placed a kiss on his cheek and ran the other way, off into the woods, on her own.

**AW! They're bonding! Yeah, yeah, I know it's cheesy. Sorry for the suckish ending, but that's just what I am! Anyway, the reason I made Kenny fight Lilly was cause he sucks and seems like he'd do that. And I think they never really covered Larry's good side. There'll be more tomorrow! BYE!**


	4. Guilt and Sorrows

Clem trekked through the woods. It was getting dark. She'd have to find shelter soon. Not only that, but there was the chance that a walker would pop up at her any moment and then she'd be wandering around looking for someone else to feed on. She shuddered at the thought and looked behind her in the direction of the hotel. She'd been walking for about three hours and it was far from sight but in her mind she pictured it, with everyone searching the entire area for it. She felt a brief moment of guilt. Lee was probably pulling his hair out and barking orders at everyone and blaming himself for the whole mess back at the hotel. But it was brief. She kept reminding herself that he had invaded her privacy to keep herself from being flooded with guilt_. He deserves it_, Clem kept saying over and over again. Soon, all of the worry and regret and guilt had completely left her mind. Now with a clear conscious, she had to focus on the problem at hand.

The sun was setting, giving the sky a pinkish, red glow. If she didn't find somewhere to camp out at for the night, she'd end up spending the night in a tree. And having spent so many days in a tree house at the start of the apocalypse, Clem shuddered and didn't think she'd ever be comfortable just climbing a tree ever again.

A place to stay the night, she thought. Hm, hm, hm. Her stomach growled and she realized just how hungry she was. When was the last time she had eaten? Clem closed her eyes and concentrated hard. Supplies had been short so it'd been a while since she actually had a decent meal. The last time she could even remember eating something was… the day the Cannibals gave her the bread. That night, Kenny had offered her a muffin but she turned it down, too grossed out and in her own terrified thoughts to want anything to do with food. Then, she was too lost in her confused thoughts the next morning to even eat her breakfast( an apple slice). After that, she talked to Carly and passed out under the bed for the whole day. And then she woke up, explained to Lily the whole thing, found out she was being spied on and booked it. So, no, she hadn't eaten in a while. Like… two or maybe three days. And before then she hadn't really had much to eat. Sighing, Clem ignored her hunger problem, promising herself to look for some food the next day. When she was fully rested and the sun was up…

. . .

"This is all my fault" Lee moaned, throwing his fist into the nearby wall. They'd all been searching for the little girl for almost five hours now and she was still missing. The moon was almost up and the sun was nearly down. If they didn't find her soon, she'd be forced to spend the night outside. Alone. In the dark. With the undead fricking crawling around everywhere!

"Lee" Carly said, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "It's not your fault."

"Yes it is. I should've have respected her privacy more and now she doesn't trust me enough to stay in the group!"

"Leeeeeeee, come on noooooow" Kenny said, staggering towards them and leaning against Lee, drunk as hell. "That little gurrrrrrrl luuuuuuves you. Sheeeee wouldn't… leave youuuuuuuu."

"Kenny!"  
"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?"

"I told you NOT to get drunk! Do you even listen to a word I say!?"

"It ainnnnnnnt my fault. I caaaaaaare about that kiiiiiiiiiiid. I don't wannnnnnna seeeeeee heeeeer geeeeeet huuuuuuuurt."

Everyone stopped at that moment. Was he just really, really, really, really, REALLY drunk or was there more to it….

"What do you mean" Lee asked, feeling his protective side come in.

"Sheeeeeee's one of the ooooooooonly saaaaaaaane people in this grouuuuuuuup. If she diiiiiiiiiieeeeeeesssssss, I'llllllll be stuck witttttttth you peeeeeeeeeeooooooople."

"What the hell are you talking about" Carly asked.

"I can't even understand his drunk ass" Lily mumbled.

"Heeeeeeeeeeey" Kenny said, pointing a finger at Lily but he ended up pointing it at the wall behind her. "IIIIIIIIIIIII doooooonnnnnnt deeeeeeessssseeeeeerrrrrvvvvve none of thaaaaaat shiiiiiiit."

"Kenny" Kat said, pulling him back. "Maybe you should go lie down."

"Wooooommmmmaaaaaaannnnnn" he slurred. "IIIIIIII dooont neeeed noooo one telllling meeeeeee when IIIIIIII neeeeed a naaaaaaaap." He attempted to walk away but then started swaying. He laughed little bit then his eyelids got visibly heavier and he said "IIIIIII neeeed aaaaaaa naaaaaaap" before collapsing on the cold cement.

"So" Lily said, as if they had not just seen Kenny pass out. "What's the plan?"

Lee stared at the forest, imagining his little girl lost and confused and hurt and hungry and thirsty and waiting for him to find her. He exhaled softly and said "I'm gonna look for her."

"Lee, you've been out there fifteen times. She's not there. And you're not the right fit to be looking for her. You'll be so focused on finding her that you might walk right past her! Maybe it's better if one of us goes" Lily rationalized.

"NO!" Lee yelled, yanking on his hair. "I have to find her! Me!"

"Lee, you need to get to rest" Carly said. "You haven't slept since we found out she was missing the first time. Let Lily go look for her."

"…"

"And even if you did find her, she wouldn't go with you. She's still mad at you."

"For what" Lee choked out in a hoarse and pained whisper. "I don't even know why she's mad at me."

"Lee" Carly looked in his eyes, feeling entranced by their beauty. "Trust me on this. You're. Not .Going Anywhere."

He sighed then took one last look at the forest. After three minutes, he turned his gaze toward Lily. "Promise me you'll find her" he whispered.

"I promise."

Lee nodded and Lily ran in the opposite direction, into the forest. Carly took his arm and directed him toward his room but he remained in his place. When she was about to protest, he put his hand up, his face determined.

"I-I" he said, his gaze still on where Lily had once stood. "I think I'm gonna stay out here on lookout duty. She might come back. I wanna be here when she does come back."  
"Lee" Carly said. "I don't think that's such a good idea."

"Carly" he said, looking deep into her eyes. "Trust me on this."

She just rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips saying "those are my words."

"Revenge is a b****" he replied, smirking for the first time in a while. "Now can I please stay?" He quivered his lip and giving her puppy dog eyes.

"Lee, I-I, I don't know if I can- you see- it just doesn't make any- OH GODDAMIT WOULD YOU STOP IT!?"

"Will you let me stay on guard watch?"

Sigh. "Fine. But the minute you feel it's too much, you come to me. You got it?!" She yelled, since he had sprinted to the tower once he heard her say yes. Carly smiled and walked back to her room, thinking Lee could be so funny and childish when no one else was around. All her thoughts of Lee disappeared though when she saw Kenny was still passed out on the ground. Not even three feet away from him, sat Kat with a Pepsi in her hand, drinking it as if she were on vacation. She saw Carly and gave her a look that said, _the f*** you looking at?_

"Uh…" Carly said, pointing at the hot mess. "You wanna get that?"

Kat looked below her and saw her drunk husband and shrugged, looking back up. "I aint cleaning that up."

"Well, I aint either. He's gonna be mighty pissed off though when he wakes up."

"Nah. He won't remember any of this. Honestly, I'll be surprised if he wakes up before next Thursday."

"So…we're just gonna leave him there?"

"Who said anything about we?"

"So…_ you're _just gonna leave him there. For like a week?"

"If all goes according to plan."  
Carly nodded then continued walking back to her room thinking, _no good lousy wife._

. . .

Clem had settled on an old tree log. It looked pretty clean and was big enough for her to spread her legs out and stretch so she ignored her new hatred and fear of trees and snuggled up in it. Reaching in her backpack, she pulled out the dingy blanket she had brought with her from home. Clem wrapped this around her. It blocked off some of the cold air that kept piercing her skin, but nonetheless, she shivered. She didn't want to be here. She wanted to be back home. With her mom and dad. Where she didn't have to worry if she were going to be eaten alive every day. Where she could depend on a decent meal and decent folks. Where she didn't have to jump at every sound because the first time she heard a gunshot had traumatized. Where she didn't have to worry about crazy people that eat each other since there wasn't enough food around. Where she didn't have to run for her life just to live. Where she didn't have to worry about sharing her own food because there wasn't enough for everybody else. Where she didn't learn things she didn't want to learn until she was very older. Like what drunk is and what a gun is really used for and what death is and how quickly it can come .And very vaguely and briefly, VERY, she wished Lee were there. Sure he had disrespected her privacy. But he was just being protective. He was worried for her sanity, something he himself seemed to be losing little by little every day. She wanted him to cuddle up with her again and assure her that everything was okay. But she couldn't. Clem knew that. She had left and she was never going back. Without even realizing it, Clem began to cry. At first, it was just one tiny, small, fragile teardrop. Then they turned into droplets. Then they turned into streams. And then she wasn't crying anymore. She was sobbing. Full out, sobbing. Sniffling and crying, snot bubbles and all. She cried loud enough for wolves to hear her sorrows and howl back at her, giving her their sorrows. Together, they cried throughout the night. Clem choked on her own sobs thinking that, finally, someone had heard her. She was finally being her and it was because she was crying and was alone and had no one and the people hearing her weren't even humans. But she wasn't under the impression that someone else had heard her sorrows. A certain boy that had just escaped a prison bus and was trying to figure out what had caused someone to produce so much pain…


	5. LET ME GO!

SNAP!

Clem stopped sobbing at the sound of a twig snapping. She looked around wildly, trying to find its source. She's just a little girl, doesn't know how use the nearby fallen branch as a weapon, doesn't know that her small and fragile fists are capable of more than just drawing with chalk, doesn't know that begging for mercy won't save her. All she knows is she's in danger. Why? Because she's out in the forests with no weapon or survival skills and the sun is high in the sky. She could be seen from a mile away. Clem jumps to her feet and turns around, ready to run for it. But then she collided with something and fell back to the ground. Breathing heavily, she looked in front of her and saw a boy, probably in his teens, rubbing his knee. He looked tired and out of breath. Then their eyes connected and Clem saw something. She thought of running. But something kept her glued to the ground. And the boy didn't move either. They just continued to stare at each other. Then, after about five minutes of staring and not moving, Clementine rubbed her eyes. She hadn't gotten any sleep since she'd spent the whole night crying and howling with the wolves until they went to sleep and left her to sound her sorrows by herself. So, yeah, could you blame her for being tired? After yawning and stretching, Clem looked ahead of her and saw the boy was still staring at her. She sighed and decided to break the silence.

"Hi" she said.

"Hey" he said, carefully.

Clem crawled to her feet and brushed some of the dirt off of her dress. "I'm Clementine" she said, stretching some more.

"…Vince."

"Well, Vince, it's been nice but I think I should probably go." Then, looking over her shoulder, she added "you didn't, um, see anyone… following you did you?"

"No. Why?"

"No reason." Clem's silent for a moment, remembering how she had told herself she wanted Lee back. But she had to keep moving. Sniffling, she grabbed her backpack off the ground and started walking forward. If she left now, she could probably be out of the group's reach completely. But Vince started walking with her, curiosity all over his face.

"Was that you crying?"

"…Who said I was crying?"

"With the dirt all over your face it's kind of obvious to see the tear streaks."

"Oh." She slid a hand across her face and remembered she hadn't washed her face since before the Cannibals Incident. It was awfully dirty and she knew she looked a mess. When she had the time, she'd check in the makeup mirror in the makeup pouch Carly had given her.

"So was it you?"  
"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Comes after W."

"What?"

"You said Y. Why does everyone keep doing that?"

"No I said WHY? As in why were you crying?"

"The boys in my group invaded my privacy so I ran away and I was sad because I miss them a little."

"…So why don't you go back?"

"Because I don't trust them anymore. How can I trust someone that was eavesdropping on me?" Clem quickened her pace, not liking that this stranger was so interested in her. And it didn't exactly help that he was wearing what appeared to be an old tattered prison uniform…coated in blood. But Vince just quickened his own pace.

"But don't you think they're worried out of their mind?"

"I hope they are. I had no privacy in that motel" the little girl crossed her arms and pouted. "I'm better off on my own."

Vince chuckled a bit, something he hadn't done in a while. "Well that's something I can relate to" he said.

"I'm serious. No one respects me. They all think I'm just a little girl." Clementine bawled up her fists, unaware of this, and scrunched up her face.

"But aren't you?"

"Yeah but that's not all I am. People take one look at me and think I'm some kind of defenseless little girl that needs to be protected. But I don't need protection. I can manage on my own. At least then I won't have people judging me."

"I hear that. That's why I left my group. Some of them already left but the ones that stayed were driving me insane so I snuck away in the middle of the night. It's better to be alone. Leaves you with your own thoughts."

"Exactly." Clem sighs and says "but no one understands. It's not easy being little."

"…So I guess this is where we part?"

"What's that?"

"Go separate ways."

"Oh…"

"It's just that you said you were better off on your own."

"And you said it's better to be alone."

"Well…most people are irritating so I want to be alone."

"Am I irritating?"

"Well how should I know, I just met you?"

"And this will be the last time you saw me" Clem said, as she broke into a sprint. Vince, if that was even his real name, obviously ran into the group and Lee must've sent him to come get her. The nerve of some people! What kind of sick cruel world was she living in when she couldn't run away without Lee sending someone to go and get her! But after she mumbled those words to herself, Clem realized there was a sort of reasoning behind it. But still!

"Hey, wait up" she heard Vince call out. But she ignored him. She really and truly wanted to be left alone. She didn't know why. She just knew things would all be better if she were alone. Where no one would be there to tell her what to do. Where she wouldn't have to worry about the other's safety. Where she could have her thoughts to herself. Where she wouldn't have to lift a finger if someone had been seen near her place. She'd just get her backpack and run. It was all that simple. Yes. Yes indeed. She'd be free. Free. Free at last.

"UH!"

Clem turned just in time to see a walker leaning from behind a tree and throwing its arms around her. She let out a scream and tried to run away but it was no use. He had a good grip on her. She let out another scream just as the walker let out a ragged and deep snarl. His mouth was inches away from her trembling left arm when a knife went through the walker's shin. He growled very loudly before another flew into his head, splitting his eye clean. He crumpled to the ground with a large thud and Clementine breathing very heavily. She was too afraid to move. Too afraid to think. Too afraid to do anything. All she could do was stare at the crumpled walker, motionless. Tears came to her eyes when she thought that that walker used to be a man, someone's friend, someone's son and cousin or nephew or grandson. Maybe even someone's father. And here he had just died( again) of merciless fie. She was about to start sobbing when she heard the sound of approaching walkers. The sound make her jump and she looked around, her eyes wide with fear and adrenaline and not the good kind. She started to have an anxiety attack when she felt a hand rest on her shoulder. Clem, tired of jumping out of surprise, turned around and started swinging her fists. She was in a crazed frenzy and probably didn't hit anything but she didn't care. She just kept on throwing her arms. She kicked and screamed and punched and howled and cried and sobbed all at the same time so that it sounded like a strange variety of choked out animal sounds. Clem couldn't stop. She didn't know what she was hitting. She just wanted to make all of the pain stop. Make everyone go away. But then a set of larger hands took hers in theirs and tried to make her stop.

"NO! STOP! GET OFF OF ME!" she cried out. She struggled and attempted to run past them but instead they brought her to the ground.

"LET GO OF ME!" Clem screamed between sobs. "JUST LET ME GO! LET ME BE ALONE!" She tried to push them away but then they pinched her that area under her elbow and she let out the loudest cream she'd ever produced and felt sleep come to her. The last thing she saw before darkness came was Vince standing over her looking very scared and sorry.


	6. Bitten

**NOTE: That guy from the last chapter IS Vince and I would personally like to thank ClementineEverettTWDG, Fandoms for the win, Skylar91, guest LazyLuna, tortue0711, MangekyoMasta510, LuccaPL123, FindMeInTheRice, for the continuing support (and alphabet corrections, thank you VERY much Fandoms for the win!)! You guys make writing all the more fun! And I'm sorry if my updating is a little random. I write when I can and if you have any ideas or whatevs just send me a pm or review. And don't forget to review, follow, and fave! Seriously, I hate it when people read and don't do anything.**

Lee sat curled up in the light house chair. Lily, who had come back at about three hours before, stood next to Carly. Together they shook their heads.

"I can't believe he actually spent the night in that chair" Lily said.

"He can be quite stubborn" Carly said sighing.

"He's gonna kill me when he wakes up and sees I didn't find Clem."  
"Nah. He'll be too tired to do anything. Poor guy hasn't had a decent sleep in days."  
"Yeah but what makes you think that'll stop him?"

"Ah, he'll be fine."

"So…do you think we'll find Clementine?"

"I don't know. But I think I really messed up telling her to ignore the guys."

"Carls, it's not your fault. Okay, it is, but don't blame yourself."  
"I know, but what if we don't find her? I'm the one that told her she should ignore the guys and she must have misinterpreted it. She could be out there lying in a ditch, dying a long cold and painful death, and I'm here doing nothing."

"Guess now we know how Lee feels" Lily said, shaking her head sadly. "I hope she's okay. She didn't deserve to feel this way. She was a cool kid."

"She_ is _a cool kid. She's not dead."

"I know. I just hope she's not at least."

As if on cue with the conversation that was taking place, a scream rippled through the forest. Lily and Carly froze in their place, terrified at the fact at how familiar the screaming voice sounded. But what scared them to the very bone was that she sounded to be in pain, agonizing and unbearable pain. To their right was a loud thud and they turned and saw Lee had woken at the sound of the scream and had fallen from his place. He stared ahead at the forest, eyes wide as he tried to interpret what was going on. Shortly after, they could hear Clementine screaming and sobbing and telling someone to let her go. After three agonizing long minutes, her screams were gone. All was silent. It was as if everyone and everything was listening to hear what would happen next and the only thing that could be heard were the trio's breathing and the wind in the trees. And the approaching walkers. But they were all too shaken to move or do anything. It was only after they heard Duck let out a scream and Kat telling the walker "no!" did they come out of their shocked trance.

"You guys stay here and make sure no more walkers get in" Lee said, his survivor kicking in for the first time in days. "I'll go help Kat and if you see Clem… come and get me. You are not to go after her without my permission, understand."

They both nodded, their vocal chords for true once not working.

Lee ran in the direction in which they had heard Duck and Kat's dilemma. Duck had crawled on top of the truck and was trying to kick away the walker that was trying to bite him. Kat was swinging a branch at the walker but there was one coming up behind her that she hadn't seen. And Kenny… Kenny was still passed out on the ground. There was a ton of drool coming out of his mouth and his eyes were bloodshot. He looked alive but Lee wasn't so sure. He'd come back to THAT hot mess later. He looked at the beer bottle to Kenny's side and snatched it off the ground. It was quite heavy and still had half of the poison still in it. He frowned but shrugged and ran towards Duck and Kat. The walker had Kat pinned to the ground and the others had Duck held high up in the air, ready to bring him to the ground.

"HEY" Lee called out. The mindless zombie, Duck, and the walkers **(aha! Zing on Kat!) **all turned to Lee. "DUCK, KAT, DUCK!" Without thinking twice, Lee chucked the bottle in Kat's direction. If his aim was correct, he'd hit the walker. If it wasn't, he'd hit just Kat. If he got lucky, he'd hit them both and they'd be able to sleep in peace for the night (** double zing!**)

The bottle collided with the walker's head and he flew backward. The others turned to Lee after seeing he had taken their friend's life( again) and started to come had him. He motioned for Kat to get Duck out of there and she nodded, showing that she understood and ran to her son, picking him up and running inside the hotel. Selfish b****, Lee thought as he started to back away slowly. Then he felt a pair of hands come on his shoulders and he turned, ready to swing but brought his hand to his side when he saw Carly stood there with a rather large stick looking frightened. Lee smiled and grabbed the stick from her, turning around and started bashing the walkers' heads in. But the thing he missed was that she hadn't returned his smile and there were tears forming in her eyes.

After about three minutes of ruthlessly bashing of the walkers' heads, Lee dropped the stick and took a deep breath. He laughed to himself despite the fact that he was nowhere near close to happy. He let himself drop to the ground, breathing heavily with a smile on his face. Then he turned to his right and saw Kenny was still on the ground. Rolling his eyes, he decided to wake him.

"Hey, Kenny" Lee said, getting to his feet and nudging him with his toe. "You dead or what?"

"Er…"Kenny mumbled. "I got killer headache."

"Monster hangover." Lee extended a hand and pulled his friend to his feet,

"That explains it." Then, curving over, he hurled over all over the ground.

"Yeah…" Lee said. He patted his friend's back apologetically and waited for him to get his system cleared out. This took longer than expected, however, because he ended up standing there for nearly three fricking hours! When Kenny finished, Lee could hardly breathe.

"How much of that sh*t did you drink" he said between gags of breath.

"I dunno. I kind of lost count after my thirteenth round. So…what I miss? Did ya find Clam?"

"CLAM?!"  
"Sorry, I meant Cream."

"CREAM?!"

"What?"

"How the f*** do you call her Cream or Clam!?"

"Calm down…Lee. I just got over a hangover what did ya expect?"

"Right."

"So what happened? Did you find… the kid?"

"No." His shoulders sagged at that and Kenny watched as the bravest and most courageous man he'd ever known deflated before his eyes. "She's been gone for a while and I'm really worried. And then, a few minutes ago, she just started screaming and crying from somewhere. And there was an attack. They almost got Kat and Duck but they're okay." Kenny's eyes, still red, widened before Lee assured him nothing was wrong with them.

"Oh. So how's the rest of the group?"

"I don't know. Larry's been kind of quiet for a while." His brow furrowed at this. Did the old man know something? "Lily went to find Clementine but I don't think she did cause when I woke up that's when I heard the scream and she was already hear."  
"Figures."  
"And… Carly? Well, I haven't really talked to her since last night but I suppose she's okay."  
"There's nothing happening right now. Why don't you go ask her? You know this moment of peace won't last long, right?"

"There is NO peace. Clementine is STILL missing."

"Yeah but other than that, nothing's going on. Use this time wisely. You'll wish you had later on down the road."  
"Alright, alright, I'll go."

"Why are you so f****** scared to talk to her" Kenny asked, as he and Lee started walking to Carly's room.

"I'm not scared. It's just that there's nothing to talk about" Lee said.

"Except for the fact that you like her."

Lee stopped walking. A blush came onto his cheeks and he started stuttering. "W-what? N-no I don't."  
"Lee, it's obvious that you do. Whenever she walks in a room your eyes light up and you run to her."

"No, I don't."

"Uh, yeah ya do."  
Sighing, Lee mumbled "Déjà vu." Two crushes, one week. How will he survive!

"Huh?"

"Nothing, but I don't like her. You're just insane and still getting over your hangover."

"I guess. But you're just insane about confronting your feelings. You don't always have to be this guy that's tuff and macho."

"I'm not. I just… don't think I trust myself to be in another relationship yet" he said quietly, as they started walking up the stairs.

"Lee, you can't let one bad time. You let your anger get the best of you but who doesn't? It's natural, healthy even."  
"Really?"

"Yeah, totally. Now get your ass in there and go talk to her."

Lee took a deep breath and looked at the door in front of him. On the other side would be Carly, sitting on her bed with her hands placed neatly in her lap, like he always found her whenever they talked. She'd say "come in" and he'd walk in. They'd talk and then he'd tell her he liked her and then things would be all good.

"Alright" he whispered to himself. "Here goes nothing."

He knocked timidly on the door. No answer. He knocked harder. Still no answer. He banged on the door. Not a sound.

"Carly" he said. "Can I come in?"

There was a sound coming from the other side. He just couldn't quite hear it. If he put his ear to the door though, Lee could hear what appeared to be crying. He pulled back, startled. "Carly" he repeated. "Can I come in?"  
There a faint reply. It was soft and fragile and he could barely hear it. "N-no. Stay away from me" she whispered. "I- I don't want you to get hurt."

"Carly, what's going on?"

"Lee, if you really care about me, you won't open that door. Ever."  
"Carly, what are you talking about?"

"I didn't see them coming… I didn't see. I didn't see them…coming…there were so many of them…"

Lee felt his heartbeat quicken. What was she talking about? "Carly, I'm coming in" he said. He tried opening the door but found that it was locked. Gritting his teeth, and hoping this wouldn't come back to bite him in the butt later, he kicked the door open. He looked to Carly's bed and saw she wasn't right there. Frowning he looked under the bed, nothing. Then he noticed the bathroom door was slightly ajar and he could hear someone crying.

"Carly" he said, walking in the small bathroom. He looked behind the door and saw her cowering in the corner in a ball, holding her arm which was shaking. Her makeup was running and she looked a mess but Lee didn't care. He looked her in the eyes.

"Hey" he said. "What's wrong?"

Carly sniffled a few times before answering "stay away from me."  
"Is it something I said?"

"No."  
"Is it Clem? You know we'll find her, right?"

"I know but it's not her."  
"Is it Larry?"

"No."

"Then what's wrong?"

Carly looked up into Lee's eyes, her own showing only fear and nothing else. Then she removed her hand from her shaking arm. Lee's eyes widened at what he saw. From the part above of her elbow (**I forget what they call it**), her sleeve was missing. And right below her wrist, there was something that made lee's heart stop: a walker bite.

**OH! A cliffhanger! And yes, I know that there are probably some errors here. I haven't checked, but I pretty sure there are some. So don't bug me about it. And I am well aware that Carly's getting bitten was not her fate. She got her head blown off by Lily. But I thought they could've made her death a lot more exciting. And I know Lily and Carly weren't buddy buddies. But it's a FanFic anything can happen!**


	7. Nightmares

**And so the Princess returns! I am so sorry for the temporary cancellation but I lost inspiration. I've had a LOT of weight on my shoulders these last few weeks. Surprisingly, the weeks that were supposed to be relaxing have been stressful. Oh, I'm graduating from the 8****th**** grade tomorrow so WHOOP, WHOOP! I'M SMART! Kinda sorta. Anyway, I've decided to start back up considering the fact that Opticz has helped me get over my depression and I cant stand it when others cancel stories. **

**Oh heads up, I altered Clem's story so now she had a baby brother and a few other things I'll add later.**

**So…let us check back up on Clementine…**

"_Clementine…"_

_Clementine's eyes flew open and she sat up with a start. She was in the forest but it looked different. A lot deadlier. There was a strange mist coming off of the ground and the sky was a strange greyish black color. She could have sworn she saw rain falling from the skies but she wasn't getting wet. She put her hand put but found it dry, along with the rest of her body. Something suddenly swooshed behind her, creating a soft breeze. Clem turned around, fear on her face. She scanned the area but found no one there. She cocked her eyebrow , truly confused._

"_Hello" she called out. "Is somebody there?"_

_Something rustled in the bushes behind her and she turned around, now sure that she was not alone. She looked around, hoping to find something to defend herself with. _

"_S-Show yourself!"_

_Something swooshed behind her again and she jumped, screaming. Clem had seen something black out of the corner of her eye and was sure she had heard a low growling sound from her right. Something then slipped under her feet, making her fall to the ground. She ended up twisting her ankle and found she could not move too fast. But she still forced herself to her feet and hobbled until she hid herself behind a tree. She heard the growl again and jumped, frightened. Clem felt her pulse shoot up rapidly and stumbled from the tree, trying to run away. _

"_Go away" she shouted. The animal growled again and she heard paws hitting the ground in a fast motion. She quickened her pace before stumbling over a tree branch. Clem barely had time to recognize her blunder before something slammed onto her, pinning her to the ground. She opened her eyes and what she saw made her feel… strangely attracted. A black panther with yellow eyes stared down at her, breathing heavily. They stared at each other for a few minutes before the panther suddenly growled and showed Clem it's sparkly white teeth, as if it were proud of them. She shivered at the sight of them and tried to get away, struggling. It came closer and closer to her, slowly, before suddenly jerking forward as Clem released a scream._

_The scene suddenly changed and she wasn't underneath the panther any more. She was back home. Her original home. Clem looked around, confused. Things looked normal. There wasn't any blood splattered up against the walls, there wasn't any boards covering the few windows that hadn't been smashed in, and the faint smell of blood and death didn't stain the air. In fact, the air smelled vaguely of…blueberry pancakes?_

"_I must be dreaming" she eventually decided as he crawled out of her bed. "I am definitely dreaming."_

"_Dear" a voice called, making Clem pale and her breath stop. "Breakfast is ready!"_

"_Mom?" she said, in barely a whisper, before taking off out of her doorway and down the stairs._

_Clem paused when she reached the hallway. It'd been so long since she'd walked down it. And, as she recalled, the last time she did walk down it, that was right when Lee had found her and took her under his wing. Lee. She shook her head, ridding her guilty mind of his absence and excellent parenting. She gasped when she saw a family picture. That had been taken about a week before the zombie outbreak. Clem let her hands take the picture and stared at it, remembering a time before she had to fear for her life. A time before she had to worry about whether or not she would see her friends in the morning. A time before she had to worry if she had enough food in her stomach. Clementine's finger glided across the smooth glass pane, her attention only on the past._

"_Hey there, kiddo." A hand landed on her shoulder and Clementine screamed, jumping and dropping the picture to the floor. Her heart nearly stopped when she saw the man before her. Her father. He was laughing though his eyes were filled with concerned._

"_What's all that about" he asked._

"_D-Dad" she whispered, almost as if she couldn't believe it. Her hand went out to reach for him, but she pulled it back, knowing it couldn't be true. I'm dreaming, she kept telling herself. "I-Is that you?"_

_He coked an eyebrow. "Yeah. Of course it's me. Who else would it be?" He lifted her off the ground and started to spin her around._

"_N-NO!" she cried, struggling to get from his arms. "P-Put me down!"_

"_What's wrong sweetheart" he asked, as he put her on the ground. "Are you ill?"_

"_No, no, no, no. Y-You're not real! Get away from me!"_

"_Dear what's all the ruckus about?" Clem paled again and backed herself into the wall._

"_I don't know. Clementine, honey, calm down." They walked closer to her._

"_STOP, STOP, STOP!"_

"_Mommy, Daddy, what's wrong with Clemmy?"_

"_Tomas?" Clem reached her hand out to her brother and let her hand land on his cheek._

"_Clementine, honey, join us for breakfast" her mother said, worry all over her face. "We can talk there, doesn't that sound swell?"_

_Her eyes darted back from her parents to her brother. Were they really real? Or should she bolt out of there? But what if they were? She could warn them of what was to come and avoid the whole zombie outbreak with her family! They could go to the news and tell them and explain! Yeah, she thought. That's what I'll do. She nodded and allowed herself to be guided into the dining room table._

_. . ._

_Breakfast was silent, as everyone was worried and confused for Clementine. They sneaked worried glances at her the whole time as Clementine stared at the food before her. It had been so long since she'd had a decent meal. She didn't know whether to eat it or not. After all, this all could still be a trick._

"_Dear' her mother said after a minute passé of her staring at the food. "Is something wrong? I thought bacon and eggs were your favorite?"_

"…"

"_Dear?"_

"…_Mom, Dad?"_

"_Yes?"_

"…_Am I dead?"_

_Silence fell over the dining room again. "What" her father said after a minute passed._

"_Am I dead? Or am I dreaming?"_

"_Dear, why would you say that?"  
"…"_

"_Clementine?"  
"You'll think I'm crazy."  
"No we wont. What's wrong?"  
"…A while ago…there was a zombie outbreak. You guys left and disappeared and Tomas died cause he got hit by a truck. I lived cause my… friend Lee saved me. You guys are all dead. You cant be here. You must be a dream. An illusion."_

"…"

"…"

"…"

"_I'm dead" Tomas asked._

"_No, dear" her mother answered. "Clementine's just a little sick is all."_

"_I'm not sick" she shouted, throwing her fork against the table. _

"_Clementine do not raise your voice at your mother."_

"_That woman is not my mother! And you are not my father! And that boy is not my brother!"_

"_Clemmy you're scaring me."_

"_You have to go" she said suddenly._

"_What?"  
"They're coming. We have to hide. It's the only way we'll survive!"  
"Dear call Joseph's Mental Hospital."_

_Clem, being just a little girl, didn't know what a mental hospital was but didn't like the sound of it. She hopped from her seat and shook Tomas's shoulders. _

"_Listen to me" she cried. "You're all going to die!"  
"Clementine!"_

"_They didn't see you" she continued. "They didn't know your ball had rolling into the street. They didn't see you. Then you turned. And, and, you tried to get me. You chased me into the treehouse. And I stayed there for days. And I would've died too if… Lee hadn't found me."_

"_She's talking about a zombie outbreak" her mother said into the receiver. _

"_LISTEN TO ME! WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!" She tried getting closer to them but they backed away, fear in their eyes._

_She groaned loudly and rushed out of the room and into the hallway. Clem saw the picture, now out of the frame, laying on the floor and picked it up and stuffed it in her pocket. But she wasn't too sure why. This was all a dream of course. She wouldn't have it when she woke up anyway._

_She rushed towards the door, needing to get away. When she opened it, she screamed in frustration. Lee stood there, his eyes sad._

"_Why did you leave me" he asked. "I thought you loved me."  
"Lee, please don't" she cried, covering her ears with her hands._

"_You left us. You left us all alone. And now we're going to die."_

"_Don't say that!"_

"_Clementine, honey, come back here. A man is here to take you to… get some ice cream."  
She turned to Lee, her face as white as a bed sheet. "They're going to take me away" she whispered. "We have to go."_

_He shook his head, his eyes looking tired and sad. "No. I have to go. You must stay. They will make you better."_

"_Lee…please."_

"_Goodbye, Clementine…" He began to turn to mist and his appearance shifted_

"_LEE! COME BACK! DON'T GO!" She reached forward and tried to grab him, to make him stay, but he disappeared at her touch. Clem's eyes widened and began to breathe heavily, trembling slightly, before falling to the ground and taking her head in her hands. "No, no, no, no, no." A hand fell on her shoulder and she didn't push away when a man in a white uniform lead her out the door…_

"Hey. Hey, kid. Wake up."

Clementine's eyes flew open but she didn't move. She stayed perfectly still but allowed her eyes to roam the area. They were in the forests and it was light outside. She sighed, happy things were back to normal. Then she looked above her and saw Vince hovering over her, eyes worried.

"You okay" he asked as he helped her to her feet.

"Yeah, I'm fine" she mumbled.

"You sure?"  
"…No, not really. But I'm be better."  
"That looked like one helluva nightmare."  
Her eyes widened. "You shouldn't swear."  
He rolled his eyes but said nothing. "So the nightmare?"  
"…I need to go back" she whispers.

"Back where?"  
"My group."  
"I didn't know you had a group."  
"Yeah well…will you help me get back."  
"I guess. On one condition though."  
"What?"

He leaned over and whispered into her ear as her eyes widened and her face paled.

**Not what I wanted but deal with it. I like it and that's what it's all about( hokey pokey!) from here on out!**


	8. Can You Fight?

"No." Lee shook his head side to side as he cautiously took a step back from Carly. "No. That's not possible."  
"But it is, Lee" Carly said, tears still streaming down her cheeks.

"No. No. No. No." He stared at Carly with a broken-hearted look. "No, Carly. Please, no."  
"Lee, calm down."  
"How can I clam down? You... you got bit! Damn!" He kicked the black trash can to his right, causing a loud clinking sound to erupt from the small bathroom.

"Lee, please…"  
He felt his breathing become irregular as he took his hair in his hands, balling them up into small balls and squeezing his eyes tight. _This isn't happening,_ he kept telling himself. _This isn't happening, this isn't happening, this isn't happening. _But deep down he knew he was only kidding himself. Carly had gotten bitten. And she was going to die.

"Why does everyone I care about die" he wondered out loud, letting his hands drop to his side, his shoulders sagging slowly.

"Lee…" Carly smiled a small and sad smile, taking her hand in his and pulling him to the ground with her. "Look at me." He turned away. "Look at me" she repeated.

Slowly, Lee's eyes met hers and she was shocked to see they were filled with tears. "Lee… I need to tell you something…"  
"Carly, don't-"

"Lee. I'm going to die anyway. I need to tell you before it's too late…before I turn."  
"You're not gonna turn" Lee said stubbornly.

"…You're gonna do it for me" she whispered, tightening her grip on his hand.  
"Carly" he said in a choked voice. "Stop."  
"Are you going to stop me from turning? I don't want to do suicide. I won't go to Heaven if I do."

"At least promise me you'll think about it."  
"…Okay."

Carly smiled and leaned her head back against the cracked surface of the wall behind her, smiling slightly. "…So what made you come in here?"  
Lee blushed, remembering his conversation with Kenny, and considered if he should tell her. Part of him was telling, no _screaming, _to tell her the truth. Hell, she was going to die anyway. But another part of him couldn't bring himself to tell her. Not after what was happening. She deserved to die without drama. And, considering how his last relationship ended, Lee doubted that she would be able to have that in a relationship with him.

"…I just…wanted to check up on you" he eventually said. Hey, at least it was partly true.

He watched as she deflated a little before Carly said, in a disappointed tone, "oh…" Then he noticed her eyes go down to the bite on her arm. "What are they gonna do to me?"  
"Who?"  
"The group?"  
"… Don't worry about it."  
"They're gonna find out eventually, Lee."  
"And so they'll find out when they find out! If we tell them now, they won't let you stay. And I'm not going to let that happen." Lee squeezed Carly's hand tighter. "I already lost Clementine. I'm not losing you too."

Carly smiled and snuggled up to him, liking that she was being compared as important to him as Clementine. "That's sweet" she said, her eyelids growing heavier. "But… we still have to tell the,. They deserve to know."  
"We'll tell them when the time is right."  
"…Is the time right now?"  
"Hell no."  
"…How about now?"  
"Nope."  
"Now?"  
"The answer is still no."  
"….How about now?"  
Lee chuckled slightly. "Girl, you know you funny."

"…"

"Carly?"

He looked down, worried, when he still got no reply. "Carly?"  
"Relax, Lee. I'm just…tired. That happens when you cry your heart out."

"Oh…" Smiling, he pulled her into his lap and lifted her up gently.

Yawning, she whined "where are we going?"  
"To get you in a more suitable place to sleep" he answered, kicking the door open to her bedroom. "I cant just have you sleeping on that cold bathroom floor. You'll catch a cold."  
Carly laughed a bitter sweet laugh. "I already have a cold, Lee" she said, gestering towards her bitten arm as Lee placed her in her bed, before joining her.

"Yeah, but I'm determined to have that one cured."  
"There is no cure."  
"That's what everyone says. But you never know. Maybe we'll luck up. Maybe you'll live." His eyes widened. "What if we cut it off."  
She frowned. "Cut off what off?"  
"Your arm" he answered, as if it were so obvious.

"No."  
"But what if we-"

"No. How would you feel if someone told you they wanted to cut your arm off? Wouldn't you want to try every other option there is that's available?""  
"…Are there many other options that we have right now?"

"Just consider it."  
"I will. But what if it doesn't work?"

"Well, you'll never know unless you try."

Carly sighed and looked at the ceiling, as if it had suddenly become interesting while Lee continued to stare at her, feeling another wave of sadness, denial, and desperation wash over him. Not her. Not his Carly. She's not bitten. This is all just a dream; a really, really, bad and realistic dream. No. More like a nightmare. But no matter how much he tried to convince himself, Lee tried to convince himself, he knew Carly had gotten bitten. He knew she was going to die. He knew there was no cure. He knew he would be all alone again, with no one to love and no one to love him. Suddenly, Carly turned back to him. Lee's breath nearly got caught in his throat when he looked deep into her eyes. So full of hope yet a lingering sadness. And beauty. He felt his heart break when he saw her give him a broken but somehow strong smile. A single tear slid down his cheek and Carly's smile eventually fell when that single tear turned into multiple tears and finally into sobs. They remained in that position, holding each other and crying, for hours, holding onto the false hope that somehow they would always be together. If they only knew just how much the other liked them…

. . .

"So." Vince stepped over a log. "Let me get this straight. You got a crush on your friend, Lenny-"

"Kenny" Clementine corrected.

"Whatever. Then your friend Marley-"

"Carly."  
"-Told you to ignore all of the boys."  
"Uh huh."  
"Then you found out they were spying on you."  
"Uh huh."  
"So you ran away."

"Uh huh."  
"And then you cried with the wolves all night long until we ran into each other?"  
"Uh huh."  
"Is that all you're going to say?"  
"Uh huh" she said, smiling.

Vince rolled his eyes. "Kid, let me tell you something."  
"I'm not a kid" Clem said, quietly. "I'm almost nine."  
"…You shouldn't run away from your problems. It doesn't solve anything. You'll always run back into it or it'll find you somehow."  
"You ran away from your group."  
"Yeah but that was different. Those guys were sociopaths."  
"Yeah well maybe my group was like that too."  
"… It doesn't sound like it. It sounds like they were just concerned for you."  
"They were spying on me."  
"All men do it. And besides, you cant run away every time something bad happens. You've gotta take it like a man and face it head on."  
"…I guess I could say the same for you then."  
Vince stopped walking and looked down at the little girl. She had a sad face, almost as if she were tired of just breathing. Her skin was literally pale, her hair stuck to her face due to all of the sweat building up on her forehead, and her eyes told a sad story of betrayal, heart ache, guilt, and loss. Clementine looked like she was literally ready to just fall out and die already. With every step she took, she swayed gently on her feet. She looked so broken…and defeated. _Okay_, he thought. _We might not be all that different after all. _

"Maybe we should take a break" Vince eventually said. No sooner had the words left his mouth, had Clementine crashed on top of a nearby log, breathing heavily.

"Thank you" she said, clearly exhausted. Frowning, Vince joined her on the log. As long as they were taking a break, he might as well get something out of it.

"…So do you like know how to fight or anything?"  
"No" came her reply.

"Can you use a gun?"  
"No."  
"Can you use a blade?"  
"No."  
Vince sighed and wiped his face. "Well, you're gonna have to learn something."  
"Like what?"  
"…Basic stuff. Something that'll keep you safe in case we get separated while we looking for your friends."  
"Like…"  
"How to punch, how to kick, how to bash in a few heads... it's not as gross as it sounds" he added the last part after seeing just how much paler she had gotten.

"Oh but I think it will be."

Later ~

"You gotta keep your grip tight" Vince said for what seemed the hundredth time that day. He took Clementine's hands and made them tighten the hammer in her hand. She sighed and nodded before turning back around and staring at the tree she had been aiming at for the past three hours. Vince had taken a large long piece of purple chalk and drawn on it, not to mention the dozens of others targets he had drawn on the other trees surrounding them. Surprisingly, Clem had managed to hit nearly everything _but _the targets, even almost nailing Vince a few times. So, yeah, you could say the both of them were sick and tired of those lousy targets.

"Keep your eyes on the target" Vince said. "Block out everything else and focus on the target and the target only. Never-"

He was cut off by the sound of the hammer swishing through the air and landing on the target to his right. Clementine crossed her arms and smiled smugly.

"Nice" Vince eventually said. "Now go get it."  
"Huh?"

"If a bunch of walkers are trying to get you and you nail one of them, you gotta keep moving. You hit one, you yank it out, hit another one, yank it out, hit another one, and so on and so forward."

"Oh… Okay."

"…"

"…Go."  
"Oh, right."

Clem rushed to the tree she had struck and tried to yank it out of there but got pulled back when she tried to run. It was stuck. She yanked it again but got no process. Pushing her feet up against the tree, three feet in the air, Clem pulled with all her might but found the hammer still wasn't moving.

"Alright, that's enough" Vince said, frowning as he walked closer to her. "By now, you would have been eaten alive by that pack of walkers." He yanked the hammer out of the tree with one pull, making Clem fall to the ground. She groaned and rubbed her cheek.

"I'm giving it all I've got" she whined, slowly crawling to her feet.

"I know. And you are doing better than I thought you would. But you can do better. Back to the center."

Sighing, Clem glumly walked back to the center of the trees. Eyeing one tree, she slowed her breathing, just like Vince had told her to. Then, tightening her grip on the hammer, she threw it at the tree. After impaling it, she rushed to it and tried to yank it out. After about five seconds, Vince said "stop" and pulled it out for her. She looked down, sadly, and took the hammer back.

"Hey, listen to me" Vince said. "You're getting better. Don't give up yet. Your only problem is you freak out when you're pulling it out." He took her hand and tightened her grip. "Remember, when you throw it, you have a tight grip but when you're pulling, loosen that grip but use all of your power to pull it out. Okay?"

Clementine nodded but still walked back to the center with a low mood. She was never going to get this. She was going to become zombie chow. She eyed one tree and pulled her arm back before releasing it. It landed in the middle of the tree with an ear splitting SLICE! Clem then rushed forward, determination in her eyes and her movements. When her hand landed on the wooden handle, she took a deep breath and loosened her grip before using all of the power she could muster up and pulled her hand back, bringing the hammer with her.

"Yes! You did it" Vince cried. His jaw dropped when Clem pulled her arm back again and threw it at another tree. It landed square in the tree's target. In less than a second, she was in front of the tree and yanking it out before throwing it at another tree. She didn't stop until she had stabbed every single last walker( tree) and when she did, she fell to the ground, breathing heavily. A few minutes passed before she weakly crawled to her feet and walked over to Vince, smiling a little bit.

"Well" she asked just above a whisper.

Vince chuckled and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Kid, you're gonna be just fine."

Clementine smiled as the two began to walk away from the training area.


End file.
